Palacio Podcast
1968 vs. 2020: Will the Change Be Different This Time?
1968 vs. 2020 is the latest area of discussion and contention for critics, intellectuals, and political pundits. There is no doubt that the year 1968 was one of the most traumatic ones in post-World War Two America. The United States of America in 2020 is nearly seven months in and we’re all finding ourselves comparing this chaos to 1968. From the Vietnam War to Race to an election year, America was torn apart in 1968. Then Richard Nixon was elected President. 2020 is only different in that the war this time is with a pandemic. Race is still out front and center, we’re fighting over whether to keep Donald Trump as President, and the United States of America is still divided and in chaos.
CBS Sunday Morning recently produced a great segment on the contrasts between 1968 vs. 2020:
“1968 was a year that saw America tested over issues of race and war. In 2020, the country is being tested over issues of race and the pandemic. “Sunday Morning” senior contributor Ted Koppel talks with noted political figures and writers — former Secretary of State Colin Powell, Senator Tom Daschle, and Pulitzer Prize-winning writers Kathleen Parker and Anna Quindlen — about government dysfunction; the dangers of the Twitterverse; and the leadership needed to unite these United States.”
PalacioMagazine.com also addressed the issue in a June 2020 Voices in My Head post, “2020 Is Just Like 1968. It is All About Power.” While I acknowledged that there are plenty of differences (Passage of time, the Internet and Social Media, Demographics, a Pandemic, and Donald Trump), the basic issue is still the same: Power. Who controls it and how will they use it?
Thomas Fields 
Dr. Carmichael Peters 
Antonio Ruiz
Three 1968 veterans joined together on Zoom for more than an hour to hash out the issue, are 1968 and 2020 similar or is 2020 the line in the sand for the future of this country? Long Beach-based Writer Thomas Fields and Dr. Carmichael Peters, Associate Professor and Director, University Honors Program, Chapman University joined Antonio Ruiz, Publisher of PalacioMagazine.com, for an insightful discussion into the complex state of America.
More on Thomas Fields
Thomas Field’s first writing job was on an underground newspaper, Washington Free Press. He was also a staff writer for the National Welfare Rights Organization. Eventually, Field’s made his way to a career as a copywriter at Madison Avenue ad agency, Dancer, Fitzgerald, Sample (1970-1977) and later was a copywriter for various LA agencies writing on Toyota, Nissan, Burger King, Hyundai commercials. He also wrote the pilot for PBS sitcom, Righteous Apples, and wrote a novel, Found Money.
Thomas Field’s public service work includes the Watts Health Foundation Board, Board of Harbor Commissioner for Port of Long Beach, Long Beach Planning Commission, and the Board of the Long Beach Redevelopment Agency.
PalacioMagazine.com previously produced a profile on Thomas Fields and his many life stories, Thomas Fields Is a Man of Many Life Stories.
More on Dr. Carmichael Peters
Carmichael Peters (Ph.D., Graduate Theological Union/the University of California, Berkeley) is an Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Director, University Honors Program, Chapman University. In addition to a number of scholarly articles, Dr. Peters has written A Gadamerian Reading of Karl Rahner’s Theology of Grace and Freedom (New York/Oxford: Catholic Scholars Press, 2000). He teaches courses in Buddhism, comparative religions, philosophical hermeneutics, philosophical and political theology, and philosophy of religion.
